This invention relates to a sheet feeding cassette which is capable of receiving manually inserted sheets for loading a copying apparatus with sheets for producing duplicates or copies.
The use of a cassette containing sheets suitable for producing copies by a copying apparatus has the effects of saving the trouble of feeding sheets to the copying apparatus each time a copying operation is performed and of avoiding the occurrence of sheet jam or other accidents during a copying operation. The use of a sheet feeding cassette however, has the disadvantage that, as the need arises to use sheets of a type different from those usually contained in the cassette to meet the demand to provide copies of specific nature, it is necessary to remove the cassette from the copying apparatus, open its cover, replace the contained sheets with sheets of the desired type and load the cassette again into the copying apparatus each time the aforesaid need arises. To avoid this trouble, a copying apparatus is available which is formed separately with a sheet feeding opening and a sheet feeding table used exclusively for manually feeding sheets to the copying apparatus. This type of copying apparatus is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laidopen Utility Model Application No. 50-40244 wherein the sheet feed roller is moved away from contact with the sheets in the cassette and brought into pressing engagement with a manual sheet feed roller in another position through a linkage, as the manual sheet feeding table is brought to an operative position when it is desired to effect manual sheet feeding, so that manual sheet feeding can be carried out by these two rollers. This type of copying apparatus is convenient but has the disadvantages that the mechanism is complex because two sets of sheet feeding mechanisms should be provided, the apparatus becomes large in size as a whole and the cost is increased.